poio with ronphen

Our last summer visit to Poio was a quite sensational one. Joined by the Ronphen gang we got to enjoy some of Pepe Solla's best cooking, starting with some seaweed amuse-bouche concepts.

Following that marine intro we were served a liquid "croqueta", so any crispiness was fully aborted. And it wasn't a bad idea.

The seafood segment was about to get started, and nothing better than a plate of "camarones" to get our fingers salty.

Four gigantic "cigalas" (scampi) made their way to our table; really delicious.

After a short conversation with Pepe, we took one of his suggestions and we tried an albarino from the Salnes valley: Nana.

Mr. Voon rocketed a very nice "merluza" (hake), which I think he hadn't tried before.

Stephen took the pork root, which being in Galicia I think was a smart  counterpoint to our introductory sea promenade. 

On the menu I saw San Martino, which I'm a big fun of, and it's not an easy fish to find. So my choice was going to be a predictable one, given the circumstance.

The "ternera gallega" beef of the day was Lynne's pick; a really red and really tasty one.

A citric odyssey was served next, together with a chocolate/mint/caramel combo; ideal to transition towards the sweeter part of  this new visit to Poio.

A few minutes later a quite unusual hidden peach showed up to continue our "dessertation".

As a palate refresher we got a very smooth portion of pineapple covered with coconut.

The usual Solla lollipops came in as we were about to conclude this unforgettable episode of this initiating trip for the Ronphens around Galicia.

a certainly unusual visitor

Another afternoon was shaped to provide our daily dose of domestic satisfaction  around some of the most obvious Iberian pork delicacies: jamon y chorizo. All of it under the the compact granite arches which always seem to be whispering: home sweet home.

Two different types of chorizo including Joselito's own one, "morcon", plus that first sweaty and addictive 5J "paletilla" took the centre stage of our table. Their conglomerated odours were as intense as inviting, and it turned we weren't the only ones aware of that digestive reality.

A beautiful young fox had decided to drop by, what made our lunch a pretty exceptional one. The peaceful wild mammal was fully motivated to be part of our "best time of the day", so I had to gently indicate the meal was planed only for two. It took him some minutes to figure out the word "no" meant we were not wishing to share.

This colourful plate radiating magical smells I think was responsible for the arrival of such an unexpected and unsuccessful guest. I was really tempted by giving away a piece of bread with that delicious fat which covers the paletilla, but Lyn thought it wasn't a wise idea. I'm sure the fox didn't agree.

Such a severe display of pork required a fresh salad that could eventually help balancing our joyful digestions. The other green component at this time of the year couldn't be other than the Padron peppers.

Two local cheeses, or as we call them "quesos del pais", and some spreadable "sobrasada" from Menorca filled up the far side of our table, which one more time was perfectly lubricated by one of those albarinos we like, Nora da Neve from 2007. An original from the rural location called As Neves, which we tried last year for the first time in the glamourous village of Cambre.

"galetes" galore

La Bisbal d' Empordà is one of those towns we got to drive through during our trip around the province of Girona. It looked like a busy place, perhaps even more at the beginning of the 20th century.  

We went for a walk when I saw this old window, which reminded me of my very early days, when I used to enjoy considerable amounts of non industrial cookies. Even the sign kept that old flavour, hard to find anymore around the Spanish urban or semi-urban geographies.

Unfortunately we didn't have the room to bring home a few boxes, but let me tell you that was a possibility I dreamed about for a couple of minutes while inspecting up and down this old little store.

In Castilian language I always called them "barquillos", but in good Catalan they are known as  "neules", one of my always favourites. They are perfect with a good tea or any other mid-afternoon drink like, for example, cava.

We happened to be carrying a bottle from our previous visit to the Recaredo headquarters in Sant Sadurní d'Anoia, home to most cavas. This was a 2003 Brut de Brut, which worked perfectly by the Aigua Blava beach, once we reached a little Mediterranean town called Begur.

A bag of "palmilles" was another basic delicacy we also picked up at the Galetes Graupera shop. These ones are ideal to dip into a hot cup of tea, coffee or chocolate. However, just by themselves, or with a glass of cava, they are still worth any effort. 

Our trio of acquisitions was completed by what they call "bescuit", basically what we usually know as biscotti: another brilliant example of simple perfection.

tapas, tapas, tapas

It looks like tapas are becoming a very common formula all over the world. Just a few weeks ago, while in Barcelona, we made a really nice and fun tapas incursion.

We started with croquetas, which were the real deal: consistent and full of flavour.

The fried "boquerones" were an extremely surprising joy. Nothing to compare with the more traditional ones "en aceite", which are still fabulous.

Tomatoe carpaccio was a genuine discovery: tasty, refreshing and perfect to combine with all the tapas coming along.

A "pintxo", but not a "moruno" one, brought some more traditional attributes, even if its flavour rather was a contemporary result.

Smoked fish has not necessarily a shocking effect, but I think this time it did twist the initial expectations in a very positive way.

Cava is unavoidable for me while in Catalan territories. This one, a 2009 Privat Nu, was an organic one and even if it wasn't as mind blowing as Recaredo, our new exploration was a totally successful one.

Back to our instinctive fish preference, some sardines "en escabeche" brought a quite colourful plate to the collection.

Often the word sandwich does not mean anything to me. But when it has jamón ibérico de bellota (acorn) things can change radically.

This simple eggplant with honey was another jewel of our tapas moment of the month, or should I say the year?

I love chocolate and I love virgin olive oil, but I usually don't mix them. Now I know they can both work extremely well, and even more with a pinch of salt on top of it.

Ice cream is another all time favourite. In this case there was no complexity at all. A pure "corte", the same way it was served when I was a little kid. I'd say this is a classic within the Spanish dessert context.

An iced coffee (café con hielo) is a perfect ending in a hot summer day, especially if missing some hours of sleep. It really helps me dealing with the afternoon in a more active way. This wasn't an exception. 

girona exploration

After a few months waiting for this trip, we concluded it wasn't such a big deal. We had a good time, but far from phenomenal, as it should have been.

The start was a beautiful installation of caramelized olives hanging from a bonsai. It almost felt like an xmas tree, with the "presents" hanging from its branches.

Chicken tiles were supposed to be our second step in this long culinary promenade. The plate was my highlight.

The anchovy moment took me by surprise. A very interesting composition, where the anchovy bone was the most outstanding part of this construction, together with Pals rice tempura.

A liquid "tortilla" explosion was about to take place in our mouths with this new creation, which perfectly refreshed this first segment of our meal.

The following bite looked like some two level concept of minimal "paella", but it was nothing but calamari.

The mushroom time was here: boletus on a dense ball that could have been an evolution from a classical "bunuelo".

I never had eaten stones before, and this wasn't a bad way to get into this new type of nutritional activity. Another way to benefit from the always addictive truffles.

My cherry soup was the only change I made to the suggested menu, in addition to a final dessert element. For me this was the most remarkable moment of the day.

Apple, foie gras and vanilla oil were what I exchanged for my fantastic soup. It was good, but nothing particularly innovating.

A multi sauce fish very interesting to look at became another substantial moment. Virgin olive oil, "hinojo", pine nuts, bergamote and orange.

It was the turn for pork. A very beautiful presentation and cooking, but nothing out of the usual porky experience.

A green moment named "green cromatism" initiated our last leg of this 2011 Roca moment. A brilliant combination of textures and colour tones, with eucalyptus sorbet. 

Visually irresistible this was dessert time. Vanilla, caramel, black licorice and black olive.

My second menu modification was on the table, and it was far away from what I was expecting. It was a generous multi textural experiment with not much falvour excitement.

Petits fours or petits fools, that was the big question after this recent visit to Girona, where a glamourous #2 restaurant happens to be located...

improvised summer lunch

Another lazy day was asking for a fast to prepare, but yummy lunch under the oak tree. The "paletilla" is perfect for this kind of scenario. And a little bit of foi from Fauchon helped bringing the right harmony to the plate.

At this time of the year we do celebrate the goodness of "pimientos". This time we didn't follow the Padrón route, but they were properly replaced by red capsicum with garlic.

Beetroot has always been a favourite, and even more if it's been grown in the garden down the house. This was the case, so we added another nutritious tone to our simple lunch, reinvigorated by a drop of olive oil, from "arbequina" olives.

For nothing else than curiosity reasons we picked a red wine from the Valencia region, Celler del Roure I was quite impressed by the label, which the wine itself couldn't match.

vendetta with kakis

The great weather we had this summer made it hard to complicate our relaxing routine, essentially gravitating around the garden, the pool, and the table. Given the strange climatic conditions of the past season, we even had mushrooms growing in September, which is quite unusual around here.

"Revuelto de setas" is probably the easiest way to get those mushrooms going. It is kind of a half way omelette with mushrooms, which in this case were cantarelus. A great way to start our lunch, in conjunction with one of the most interesting albariños of all times, coming from the Pedralonga winery in Caldas de Reis. For some strange reason they decided to give a name which has nothing to do with Galicia, as fas as I know, but I guess it's very easy to understand anywhere in the planet: Vendetta.

They only use the best grapes, so the production is a small one. Some years, depending of the quality of the grapes, they don't even produce it. This bottle was from 2007, and I must say I really enjoyed it.

The mandatory salad was there, but for the main dish we had one of the last bonitos of the season or, as the fishermen call it in Galicia, "a costeira do bonito". A "guiso" was a straigh forward recipe to complete our easy lunch.

For dessert we had the first kakis surprisingly grown in the property. Deliciously sweet and tender, just the way they are supposed to be. So far we only had them in December, and they usually came from warmer areas of Spain. But I guess the global warming is changing the fruit map of the world. Stephen told me last month in Japan they are also called "kaki".